338



Mr. Frank Finn,



supplied, and involves no risk, as if a box containing sand or

earth is upset in a cage no harm is done, while superfluous water

makes everything cold and sloppy.


Birds like Woodpeckers and Creepers, which travel on the

trunks and limbs of trees, must of course have the back and

sides of their cages covered with some sort of bark; or failing

this with rows of horizontal battens. Woodpeckers have a most

astonishing power of cutting their way out, and it would be best

to have their box-cages tin-cased. Hanging-parrakeets (I always

prefer the neat German name bat-parrots for these) need a wire¬

netting or grating ceiling below the roof in a box-cage, as they

sleep and spend much waking time hanging upside down.


Birds like Kingfishers, Rollers, Bee-eaters, Trogons, etc.,

which hardly use their feet except for perching and do not hop

about, need as large a cage as you can give them, with only two

perches, one at each end on the same level, so as to give them as

much wing exercise as possible. Humming-birds are also birds

of little foot-power and need few perches, but have a remarkable

power of taking wing-exercise in a small space ; great care should

be taken to keep their plumage from getting sticky, as without

use of their wings they are nearly helpless, unlike Sunbirds

which hop about freely. Humming-birds are more sensitive to

cold than any others, and become insensible if chilled, though

they can be revived by warmth in such a case.


We come now to the question of food. Of course the

right thing is to take the special brand of soft food one favours,

or material for making one’s own, to say nothing of mealworms,

as well as appropriate seeds for seed-eaters. Supplies, however,

may be spoilt by sea-damage, lost or stolen ; and we may be

thrown again on our own resources for makeshift foods. In most

places abroad it will not be possible to get ants’ eggs, dried flies,

dried silkworm pupae, meat meal, egg flake, and what not; pos¬

sibly not even Canary seed may be available; and millet, so

common a grain in the tropics, does not suit everything.


It is as well, therefore, to rid one’s self of any prejudice

against using egg, raw meat, milk, or bread, for soft-bills, be¬

cause these things can be got anywhere where Europeans live,

and birds can be kept on them if carefully and thoughtfully



